The invention relates to roller skis having a braking system, and an attachment that may be retrofit onto a wide variety of roller skis to effect braking thereof. Roller skis are becoming increasingly popular both with snow skiers and the general public. Roller skis are useful for practicing Nordic and Alpine skiing without snow. Both Nordic techniques used on snow--classical (diagonal) and skating--are also used on roller skis.
While conventional commercially available roller skis, such as those sold under the trade name and trademark Swenor "Road-Ski".RTM., are very effective in allowing one to practice cross-country (Nordic) skiing techniques, they have a significant drawback in that it is extremely difficult to effect braking of the roller skis. Some commercially available skis have a lever protruding above the front wheel, but this lever is difficult to grasp while skiing and even when the lever is activated and a force applied thereby, it really works only as a speed governor rather than as a brake. While a wide variety of other techniques for braking roller skis have been proposed, none have met with significant commercial acceptance.
According to the present invention a roller ski assembly is provided which has a braking system associated therewith that can effectively brake the roller skis, and in a manner that is in conformance with typical skiing techniques, is safe, and does not require any unnatural movements. For example rather than being required to bend down and activate a lever on a roller, the braking system according to the invention operates when the skier simulates a "snow plowing" technique, in which the skier bends his/her legs and feet inward so as to move the inner edges of the roller skis downwardly in a "V" pattern created by the fronts of the skis pointed inward and the backs pushed outward. This snow plowing action simulates a stopping motion with real snow skis, both Nordic (cross-country) and Alpine, and thus the braking action is a natural skiing maneuver.
The invention is particularly applicable to roller skis, as opposed to roller skates (such as roller skates having in-line rollers simulating an ice skate blade). A typical roller ski has an elongated body with substantially flat top and bottom surfaces, an inside side edge and outside side edge, and front and rear ends. Means are provided for mounting a piece of footwear on the top surface of the ski body, typically at a location thereon closer to the rear end than the front end. The footwear mounting means typically comprises a conventional boot clamp for clamping the boot or shoe of the skier, in a manner identical to that on a cross-country ski. Roller means, such as an individual roller, are disposed at each of the front end and rear end of the ski body for mounting the ski body for rolling movement along a traversable surface.
According to one aspect of the present invention, at least one friction producing braking element is provided for effecting braking of the rolling movement of the ski body when the element is brought into engagement with a traversable surface. Also means are provided for mounting the braking element to the ski body so that the element is normally and always spaced from a traversable surface, except when the skier simulates a snow plowing action, at which time the braking element is brought into engagement with the traversable surface to effect braking of the ski body.
Typically a friction producing braking element is provided on each of a pair of skis, the skis being substantially identical (the only differences may be the exact details of a clamp depending upon whether the clamp was adapted to receive only a right shoe, or only a left shoe, shoes of either orientation, etc.). Typically the braking element is mounted so that the operative center thereof is disposed on a plane that extends approximately through the center of the footwear in a dimension perpendicular to the direction of elongation of the ski body, or laterally in the direction of the instep. A portion of the braking element is disposed beneath the ski body, and a substantial portion extends past a plane containing the inside edge of the ski body so that the braking element is out of contact with a traversable surface when the top surface of the ski body is substantially horizontal, but moves into contact with the traversable surface when it is not. Each braking element may comprise a body molded from a friction producing plastic resin, or rubber (natural or synthetic) and may have the shape of a truncated cone.
According to the invention it is also desirable to be able to provide a structure that may be retrofit onto existing roller skis, since there are a large number of roller skis out in the marketplace that have no braking system associated therewith. Therefore the invention also relates to a simple yet effective attachment of a roller ski for providing braking capability for the roller ski.
The attachment of the invention comprises a channel-shaped element having a bottom, first and second upstanding sides generally perpendicular to the bottom, and an open top and ends. A screw clamp operatively associated with the first side of the element has a screw in screw-threaded relationship with the first side, and a ski engaging element attached to the screw and disposed between the first and second sides of the channel-shaped element. The braking element is of moderate friction material and is operatively connected to the bottom of the channel and extends downwardly from it, a portion of the braking element disposed beneath the bottom and a significant portion extending outwardly from a plane containing the second side of the channel-shaped element. The braking element may be attached to the channel-shaped element by internal screw threads which engage the external threads of a screw post extending downwardly from the channel-shaped element bottom.
Utilizing the roller ski assembly according to the invention it is possible to effect braking of roller skis by practicing a "snow plowing" action.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple yet effective braking mechanism for a roller ski, that does not require unnatural (for skiing) movements to actuate. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.